Textures for EXR Compositing

[samroe3d]

Hello,

I’m working on a project that is being composited in a 32 bit EXR workflow. I’m really new to this sort of workflow, as I’ve usually worked in broadcast in the past where these issues weren’t really important to us.

The main thing I’m trying to wrap my head around is how to fit my 3D elements into their compositing workflow. If I were to use a jpg texture I found off cgtextures for example, would this texture be insufficient when it comes to color grading due to the fact that it doesn’t have the same sort of color info and depth as the footage that is being captured in the camera? When it comes to grading will the lighting become mismatched when the contrast and things are altered? Is it imperative that I use 16-32 bit textures?

Thank you for reading.

[Jozvex]

That’s a good question to have thought of, but you should be fine with 8bit textures! Even though a texture is 8bit, once the lighting is calculated in the renderer it will all be converted to 32bit under the hood anyway.

16 bit textures may in fact be superior in certain situations, when really drastic changes are going to be made in comp or you are using textures to create lighting. But essentially, you should be fine.

[samroe3d]

That’s a good question to have thought of, but you should be fine with 8bit textures! Even though a texture is 8bit, once the lighting is calculated in the renderer it will all be converted to 32bit under the hood anyway.

16 bit textures may in fact be superior in certain situations, when really drastic changes are going to be made in comp or you are using textures to create lighting. But essentially, you should be fine.

Great answer and very informative. Thank you for this!